Sharp HO XEA207 Cash Register Save 32% off

• 2500 Price Look Ups (PLU''s), 8 line display
• 32GB SD card computer connectivity
• 5 Coin compartments and 4 bill compartments
• 25 Clerk IDs, simplified programming
• 7 Customer display digits, thermal printer

First off, we have absolutely no previous retail experience using registers. Our reasons for purchasing this register were based on the appearance and on some of the features in the product description. We liked the small display that faces the customer. Also we thought we might need this sort of machine to interface with potential credit card readers. We did read the reviews on Amazon, and at least some of the reviewers felt there was a steep learning curve to get up and running with this unit, so that was a concern. How hard could it be? The answer is a lot harder than setting up an ipod, or using a laptop, and it isn''t made any easier by the user guide which seems to explain many things except the basics. We are using this machine to ring up sales at our small winery, so we don''t have that many items that need to be programmed with departments and plu''s. I think we have a dozen items programmed and this machine can literally do thousands of items. It has capabilities and functions far beyond what we will ever require. But we have figured out how to program the different tax rates, case discount, bottle deposits etc. We have also learned how to "batch out" the daily sales and clear the register. It does seem to work well once you get the hang of it but this did take us weeks, being busy trying to get our business up and running. At one point we did consider returning the item as we were not making good progress. We didn''t need this machine for our credit cards, as the cc unit operates independently in our configuration. We give this 4 out of 5 mainly from a documentation standpoint, as in more would be better. Overall, this seems to be well made and has a professional appearance, but unless you have previous experience with this type of machine, be prepared to spend some time figuring out how to operate it.

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I got this for my small coffee shop so I could track sales more accurately, and I like that I can save reports

to an SD card. Your different categories, products, clerks, and receipt text can be set up using the free

PC software (available at ). Programming can also be done on the machine

itself, but there''s lots of steps involved.

Using the register is straight forward. The screen is bright and clear, receipt paper is quick to change, the register feels well made, and a great value. A quick start guide is included too.

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My review will be skewed because this is the first ECR that I''ve ever bought and set up, and I''ve only used a register at Walgreen''s in high school without knowing how to program it. I will explain my rating and then give more details later.

I am giving this 5 stars because it fulfills my needs (please note what I will write about what features I needed and did not need), but subtracting 1 star (maybe 2) because the instructions can be unclear and I need to email Sharp to answer some of my questions. The new price on Amazon was the best I could find. Most retailers were selling for at least $200.

My needs are a couple hundred PLUs for preset pricing, only a few clerks, only several departments. My bonus wants were a nice multi-line LCD, RS232 port for credit card terminal hookup, and programming on PC and paperless reports through an SD card. The XE-A207 does all of this, and the price is only $140 on amazon, which seems good to me, although I''ve never bought a cash register before. What I didn''t need and what this product didn''t have is a bar code scanner for UPCs, other ports for peripherals such as a scale, and a larger cash box. For more functions, you''d either need a higher model such as the XE-A507, or a customizable POS system. If you didn''t need the SD card or the single RS232 port, or fewer PLUs, then you could get the XE-A106, which i think is about $80-$90. I don''t know much about other brands. It seems that the other large manufacturer of small-business ECRs is Casio, but their product descriptions on their website were too vague to figure out which one I needed, so I focused on Sharp products.

For me, the programming is not that hard, but this is almost certainly subjective. The menus are navigated just like any menu in an electronic device. You go in and out of the menu tree with arrow keys and enter/escape keys, and edit the settings with the keypad. The departments and PLUs probably take the most time to set up, and you can also do it on your computer with an SD card. However, you need the full-sized SD card, not a smaller SD form with an adapter. You need to download a small standalone program from Sharp, called a Customer Support Tool. The software is fairly simple, but may take extra time to learn for some people.

What I don''t like was that the instruction manual is often vague. It was probably written in Japanese, then translated to English. It''s not that the grammar is incorrect, but that the names of the settings and some of the choices sometimes are not self-explanatory. The manual also does not give a lot of description for the choices and functions. You often have to perform trial-and-error to figure out how to do things. For example, I had no idea what it meant to change a credit card payment''s "tender" to "inhibit" or "compulsory." After trial-and-error, my best guess is that inhibit means you can only charge whatever the subtotal is, and compulsory means you can and must enter how much was charged to the card. Discounts do not reduce tax by default, and I was confused because you have to set the discount''s "tax," or "taxable" according to the manual, to "yes." That is confusing because you''d think discounts are NOT taxable, so that tax is applied after the discount is taken off. Another example is that the manual mentions testing the connection to a credit card terminal, but does not explain how connecting a credit card terminal changes how you manage the payment on the ECR. Another example is that there is type of report called the "Electronic Journal," which is like a compilation of every action (even programming) done on the machine. When you "save & clear" it to an SD card, it does not reset the EJ as the manual says. It only resets if you do it on the machine through the "Z" menu. The EJ file (.SDA ?) can be read by Excel (the manual did not say this), although an occasional character shows up as a weird symbol. It is also strange that you cannot reset the daily/monthly transaction reports after you save to the SD card. You can only do that with the Z function, and that will use up paper.

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This is a great register Been in business for 15 years and had a few registers in that time This one is the best so far Had it for 2 months and I like it more and more I am not real swift with computer like things but this register was the easiest ever to program Would highly recommend!

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I needed a register that would last me and pull reports and things required by ome trade show officials and this did all of that and more. You really can''t beat this register unless you want to spend thousands. I of course had no desire to do so, this is strictly a traveling register for our shows and I couldn''t be more pleased!